The Paramount chief of the Buipe traditional area and Vice President of the national House of Chiefs of Ghana,His Royal Majesty Jira Buipewura Abdulai Jinapor II has led a high-powered delegation of the Savannah Farmers Brigade to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in Accra, marking a major step toward strengthening food security and large-scale agricultural production in the Savannah Region.
The delegation, which included the Executive Director of the Savannah Farmers Brigade, Gbinapewura Alhaji Mahama Sakan was received by the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Hon John Dumelo,the Chief Director of agriculture, a Technical Advisor, and the National Coordinator of the Feed Ghana Programme.
The visit formed part of efforts to formally introduce the Savannah Farmers Brigade to the Ministry and to secure its integration into the government’s flagship Feed Ghana initiative.
Discussions focused on mechanization, post-harvest management, climate-resilient farming, and state support for large-scale agricultural production.
He underscored the spiritual, social, and economic importance of agriculture to national development, particularly in the Savannah Region, which he described as Ghana’s emerging food basket.
Presenting a structured brief to the Minister, the Executive Director of the Savannah Farmers Brigade, Gbinapewura Alhaji Mahama Sakan outlined five key pillars of the proposed partnership.
These included the formal recognition of the Brigade as a major production hub for maize, soya, and rice under Feed Ghana, the establishment of a dedicated mechanization unit for large-scale land clearing, support for combine harvesters and solar-powered silos to address post-harvest losses estimated at 30 percent, a transition toward all-year-round farming to enhance climate resilience; and a formal invitation to the Minister to inaugurate the Brigade in Damongo.
Responding to the proposals, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon Eric Opoku welcomed the initiative and confirmed the Ministry’s readiness to partner with the Savannah Farmers Brigade.
He announced that one Farm Service Centre would be allocated specifically to serve farmers under the Brigade, describing it as a strategic move to boost productivity in the Savannah Region.
The Minister further revealed that the government has imported 660 tractors to enhance mechanization nationwide and assured the delegation that fertilizer supplies would begin reaching the Brigade’s production corridors from February.
He also accepted the invitation to attend the inauguration of the Savannah Farmers Brigade in Damongo.
In a major boost to the initiative, HRM Jira Buipewura assured the Ministry of the availability of up to 10,000 hectares of land in the Savannah Region for model farming, citing the region’s vast arable land and its potential to drive Ghana’s food security agenda.
To translate the engagements into action, both parties agreed on clear next steps and that include immediate technical consultations between MoFA’s technical team and the Savannah Farmers Brigade to harmonize production targets and infrastructure needs, the development of a joint operational roadmap for the establishment of the dedicated Farm Service Centre, and the scheduling of a preliminary site inspection by Ministry officials to the proposed 10,000-hectare farming area in the Savannah Region.
The visit is widely seen as a significant milestone in positioning the Savannah Region at the center of Ghana’s agricultural transformation and reinforcing the traditional leadership’s role in national development.
